Sunday, February 25, 2018

The Relationship of Apologetics to Theology

The word
“apologetic” is derived from the Greek word “απολογητική”,
meaning
“defense”. Thus the expression “Christian Apologetics” refers
to the defense of the Christian faith.

An apologetic examination of scientific challenges may confine itself to the setting forth of the rational grounds which are
the bases of Christian truth- such as the witness of reason to the
existence of God, the nature of humanity, and the relationship of
humanity to its Creator, concluding with a defense of Divine
Revelation. In the development of such an apologetic an opportunity
is given whereby the assured conclusions of the various sciences
which deal with the origin of humanity and the history of the cosmos
receives intense attention. This is the most common form of apologetics as is evidenced in the voluminous works of Dr. William Lane Craig.

However, an apologetic which proposes for its
specific object the defense of Revelation proper continues to make use of
reason, but reason informed by faith as its main instrument, which presupposes the truths of “natural religion” already established,
and proceeds to the detailed philosophical exposition of the nature,
possibility, necessity, and comprehensible nature of Divine
Revelation as set forth in Sacred Scripture. Thus the formal object
and aim of any Christian Apologetics is the philosophical
defense of Divine Revelation. The relationship of apologetics to
theology is as follows:

The
subject matter of theology- that is, its formal object- is God as
supernaturally revealed, and as the point of apologetics is to defend
all that has been supernaturally revealed, it is clear that
apologetics forms a fundamental part of theology. Christian
Apologetics is a rational defense of theological truth. This defense
is made by reason under the direction of faith. Not that the
apologist uses faith to enforce reason, or reason to establish faith,
but he chooses under the direction of faith the special rational
arguments put forth to defend Revelation, and develops their
inquiring force wholly by means of the light of reason. As the fact
of Revelation is not immediately obvious to us in our fallen and
finite condition, we need the establishment of its truths because of
their intrinsic value, and because of the eternal nature of our
assent to these truths. Heaven and Hell are the only two logical
outcomes, depending on one's response to the truths of theology and the reason behind apologetics.